The tomato plants come up to my chin and I just spotted the first flowers a few days ago.

The arugula and Swiss chard are looking really good. I took a few little snippets of the arugula to test the flavor because I read that if you are growing in a hot climate, and you allow the leaves to get too large, they can become hot or bitter. So far my arugula is just simply yummy and I'm having to practice self control to not cut it all too soon and eat it. Patience Tricia, patience. Arugula is one of my favorite salad greens -- I think I could live on arugula salad.

The jicama has lots of nice green leaves and vines working themselves up the fence. But since it's a root

vegetable I know all the magic is happening out of sight. Mmmmmm, I can't wait to have chilled, chopped jicama with lemon and chili powder.

I'm not sure how the ayote is coming along, it seemed to be growing really quickly but has now come to a halt -- other than blooming these beautiful big yellow flowers that stick around for a few days. I'm just kinda' waiting to see what happens on these. I assume that blooming means something good. They seem happy, nothings dying and for that I give myself a huge A++ ;)

The leaves are a little muddy but the flower is gorgeous!

I also sprouted some chili dulce seeds (which are a lot like a red bell pepper).

Sprouted seeds from chili rocotto, aji and Panamanian. I make a mean salsa and can't wait to use these!!

The jalapenos are coming a long as well.

After the first cherry tomato seeds sprouted from kitchen scraps, I got super excited and started saving a bazillion cherry tomato seeds and planted them -- not thinking they would all survive, but, they have!! So now I have a number of small plants growing - that I guess I'll keep giving love to and see what happens. I was thinking that if they actually grow and succeed, I can give them away to folks. Food is food, right?

It's been a lot of fun to see how these things grow. Every morning Manchita and I go outside and inspect all the plants to make sure there's no creatures devouring my veggies before I do, however, other than one worm, I have not found any pests at all. I'm not sure if I've just been really lucky (fingers crossed) or if it could also be that I've planted lots of marigold all over the veggie bed and along the shelving after reading that it is a great all pest combatter. Maybe it's working, maybe it's luck. Whatever it is, I'm really happy about it.

Manchita on Pest Patrol

My little vivero (nursery) is coming along!!

I purchased some more seeds for three different types of tomatoes, some purple carrots, broccoli and green beans that I may not get around to planting until after the rain. Additionally, I purchased a medicinal herb kit consisting of 25 different herbal plants which I'm very anxious to plant and learn more about.